Playing Video Games for Fun

I made an epic discovery the other day as I was playing through a level in Super Mario 3D World on Nintendo Wii U.

As most people with access to video game consoles do these days, I booted up the title in anticipation of instant and constant criticism of every pixel. My finely trained eyeballs balked at every dropped frame as I moved my avatar through a questionably designed level. Metaphors formed in my mind to make sense of the invading army of enemies: these were no mere turtles, these were political statements on female oppression wrapped in furry tails and cat ears. You know, normal gamer stuff.

At one point of the level, I had to press a button to force my character to hop on command — a particularly offensive notion as I selected a female character as one to represent myself during this game duration and I, as all people do, fiercely reject the idea of controlling women any manner — over a pit of lava (or as my review would eventually read “orange-red hate water”). My character didn’t make the jump. As I watched her become engulfed in flames, I found myself crying out in agony. Not because a deeply emotional tie to this character had been ripped from my heart, but because the action was so unexpected: I intended to heroically leap across the pit, instead I fell right into it.

Normally, watching a female character cry in pain would give cause for riot. This time, however, I subconsciously and unwittingly chose not to be offended, instead enjoying the sensation of losing and becoming motivated to try again.

As disappointed as I was in that moment, the very next feeling was one of happiness. I laughed as my incompetence and was filled with a strong desire not to turn off the console and write about how bad the game was on the internet, but to keep playing and try again! It dawned on me in that moment that perhaps video games could potentially be played for a different reason. Not for criticism or political conversation, not as a means to bully people on the internet or to make money off my opinion. Perhaps, just maybe, fathomably and theoretically, video games could be played for fun.

I may not be alone on this. A few years ago my young niece was given a Nintendo 3DS XL for Christmas. Having only just recently started school, I was amazed to see her competently boot the device up and set a profile, navigate the eShop and play a game without once hurling racial insults at anyone, slamming the resolution for being too low, or uttering a single word of misgiven about the software at all. A smile was parked on her otherwise expressionless face as the next few hours drifted away. If young children can have fun with these things, surely us adults can extract entertainment from them too?

Perhaps it’s possible for other people to use all kinds of video games for the purpose of having fun, instead of analysing each second of playtime to find and point out how its existence can be blamed for social issues.

Next time you boot up your console for your usual dose of pessimism, I ask you take a moment to allow yourself the possibility to enjoy the game for what it is. Maybe the graphics don’t melt your brain as the trailer promised, and perhaps the story has more holes than a chicken fence. Before jumping on the usual bandwagon to use your game purchase as a means to push an activist agenda or to blame it for sociological shortcomings, I beg you to take a short moment to look past those obvious and totally unacceptable traits and see if you can play the video game just for fun.

You may well be surprised too.